He argued his case from the position of religions being anti science, homophobic, intolerant and divisive by nature. On his website http://www.alvincarpenter.com , his paper makes the case that earth religions will prevent space religions from materializing and that space religion will be necessary for the spiritual well being of those who are on a mutigenerational one way journey that may last over a thousand years. Dr. Carpenter has noted that while he has received much support form the scientific community he has received death threats from others within the religious community.
Dr. Carpenter states that this might be humanities only opportunity for survival and we must add to their success even if that means at the expense of our own religions. “If God spoke once to us on earth He can speak again to those who are star farers,” and “anyone who loves their own religion more than they love humanity is not worthy of their religion,” said Dr. Carpenter. But his fellow Christians disagree with him as he has read thousands of critical words have been written about him since his paper was published this week. “I just do not understand why anyone can believe that religion is not belligerent, intolerant, and divisive by nature, does not anyone read the news?” He points out the fact that all religions have creeds and creeds in themselves are divisive in that they determine who is of God and who is on the outside.
If Dr. Carpenter is right and we must grow as a species to the point where we can believe without religion then star flight may take a little longer that we would like. Lets hope we have enough time left as a species to do so.
Full paper by Rev. Dr. Alvin Carpenter is at http://www.alvincarpenter.com
